Instant TIPS and a Global Dining Trend Outlook
9 Min Read By MRM Staff
The first of November edition of MRM’s Daily Bite features ADP® and Gratuity Solutions®, MonkeyMedia Software and DoorDash, AlixPartners, EatStreet and Facebook and Kwench Juice Café.
Send news items to Barbara Castiglia at bcastiglia@modernrestaurantmanagement.com.
ADP and Gratuity Solutions Debut Instant TIPS
As managing tips becomes a growing problem for service industries such as restaurants, spas, and salons, it continues to top the list of employee concerns over the accurate allocation of the income and the sometimes perilous practice of leaving their job sites with a wad of cash in their pockets.
ADP® and Gratuity Solutions® have helped solve this problem with an innovative and creative new solution called Instant TIPS. By integrating the capabilities of ADP’s existing paycard offering, the ALINE Card by ADP®, with Gratuity Solutions’ seamless integration with leading Point of Sale (POS) systems, the two companies are offering employers and employees a secure alternative to cash payments and a faster way to receive tips paid from card payments.
“We understand that choosing an accurate and efficient method of tip management can be crucial to the success of today’s service industry businesses,” said Doug Politi, president of Added Value Services at ADP. “Using this innovative solution to track and pay tips can reduce the time and effort that goes into tip calculation and distribution, as well as potentially help increase employees’ job satisfaction by keeping them motivated and safe.”
Choosing an accurate and efficient method of tip management can be crucial to the success of today’s service industry businesses.
It’s no small issue. Employers continue to look for accurate, more frequent and direct ways of paying tips to employees. They also would like to reduce the need to have large sums of cash on hand. From the employee perspective, according to the most recent study from the Economic Policy Institute, 4.3 million Americans rely on tips. And of the roughly 4.3 million tipped workers in the U.S., almost 60 percent of them — 2.5 million — are servers and bartenders.
This new solution extracts tips data from POS systems and can instantly pay tips income electronically to an ALINE Card by ADP. It does this by using the Gratuity Solutions GratSync® API to synchronize all employee records from a business owner’s POS system with the Gratuity Solutions GratSync portal, which then processes the payments to the ALINE Card.
The GratSync portal provides employers access via an Internet browser to the pay information from virtually anywhere, enabling them to review it, generate necessary reports, and access data for payroll. It also lets them view tips payments in real time, by shift, as well as enables tips payments to be manually triggered or scheduled to load at the end of each business day. There are four different editions of Instant TIPS that address a range of business needs.
“Gratuity Solutions is excited to offer our patented software services for tips calculation, allocation and distribution to paycards for ADP and its clients,” said Carlo F. Zampogna, co-founder of Gratuity Solutions LLC. “As a company focused on tips management and payment methods, we believe the convenience, security, and benefit that our clients enjoy today using GratSync is just the beginning of the value that we can deliver through our partnership with ADP.”
Instant TIPS can deliver several additional benefits to employers. For instance, it can:
- Speed distribution of tips by providing a more frequent and direct method of paying tips to employees.
- Contribute to employee retention by offering more frequent pay cycles than other employers.
- Reduce the security risk of distributing cash by eliminating the need for establishments to have significant cash reserves on hand.
- Increase the adoption of electronic payments to help reduce payroll cost and complexity, by offering an easy, intuitive and immediate process to enroll employees that want to receive wages and tips on an ALINE Card and fund those cards.
- Ease tax preparation by more accurately tracking employee tips.
“Instant TIPS from ADP and Gratuity Solutions has helped our company more effectively and efficiently manage compensation and tips for our hourly workforce,” said Caroline Skinner, vice president of Human Resources for Tupelo Honey Hospitality Corporation in Asheville, North Carolina. “This innovative solution helps us provide our ‘tip team’ members with more frequent access to their money on a weekly basis, while easing an administrative burden for our corporate payroll and restaurant management teams, enabling them to eliminate nightly cash tip transactions and process payroll on a biweekly, instead of weekly, basis.”
For employees:
- Delivers a secure, fast, and convenient way for them to gain instant access to their tips on an activated ALINE paycard1.
- Is mobile friendly for those employees who choose to download the free ADP® Mobile Solutions app, which can notify them when their tips are loaded on the paycard and lets them track balances and transactions.
- Assist their managers in accurately allocating tips.
Using the ALINE Card, employees can get cash at bank and ATMs, shop and pay bills in stores, by phone, online and in-apps. They also can use the card to pay securely with a single touch using Apple Pay.
Additionally, ADP recently enhanced the ALINE Card offering with its acquisition of Global Cash Card, a leader in digital payments, including paycards and other electronic accounts. ADP now is the only HCM provider with an industry-leading proprietary digital payment processing platform. Global Cash Card offers solutions for both Form W-2 employees and Form 1099 contractors, as well as online tools that help customers manage their digital accounts. After integrating Global Cash Card with ADP’s existing paycard offer, ADP will manage more than four million accounts on a single platform.
MonkeyMedia Partners with DoorDash
MonkeyMedia Software has announced a partnership with on-demand delivery platform DoorDash through the integration of DoorDash Drive and MonkeyMedia Software’s flagship product MONKEY™, the cloud-based software platform for takeout, delivery and catering service channels. With this integration, MONKEY will seamlessly operate with DoorDash Drive, DoorDash’s platform that allows merchants to fulfill deliveries for orders placed outside the DoorDash marketplace.
The partnership will provide restaurants with an integrated experience between MONKEY and Drive. This means restaurant operators who use both MONKEY and Drive – such as Le Pain Quotidien, and more – can easily request a DoorDash Dasher to pick up and deliver a large catering order to the customer.
“Delivery is a critical component for off-premise service channels, as it is the last critical touch point with the guest. Anything we can do to streamline and optimize the experience for the restaurant operator will be a huge benefit for them and their customers.” said Mo Asgari, president, MonkeyMedia Software. “As partners, DoorDash and MonkeyMedia Software are bringing a best-in-class delivery experience to restaurant operators. This will give our operator partners an easier-to-manage integrated experience for flawless experience execution.”
Delivery is a critical component for off-premise service channels, as it is the last critical touch point with the guest.
Once an order is placed through MONKEY, it will seamlessly interface with DoorDash Drive for driver dispatch. With DoorDash Drive, restaurants can use DoorDash to request a driver to deliver orders directly to customers.
“We are thrilled to be working with MonkeyMedia Software on this partnership to offer restaurant merchants a fully integrated solution to offer catering delivery at the national level,” said Toby Espinosa, Head of Business Development at DoorDash. “DoorDash is the only on-demand delivery platform that has built-out a nationwide large order solution for catering delivery. Drive has quickly become the best way for restaurants to fulfill delivery requests for large catering orders. We’re excited to continue investing in Drive with new features and partnerships to provide the very best experience for our tens of thousands of restaurant partners around the country.”
“The integration between MONKEY and DoorDash Drive allows us to focus more on our food and on offering the highest quality we can,” said Karen Muscarella from Le Pain Quotidien. “With a delivery partner we know we can grow faster. What we hope to do, is grow our ‘food-to-go’ in a more thoughtful way and with a strategic partner that can be trusted to deliver with the same standards we expect within our four-walls. It’s a vulnerable place to be for any restaurant, but the demand for an ‘at-home or office’ dining experience is high and we want to be able to accommodate consumer needs.”
Dining Trend Outlook from Alix Partners
Restaurants around the world are fighting not just a share-of-plate battle with each other but are increasingly losing the share-of-wallet battle to non-foodservice competition. At the same time, while many consumers say they plan to dine out more often in the coming year, most are adamant they don’t intend to spend more for their meals. Away from the tables, an overwhelming majority of diners say restaurant chains must offer more delivery options, with a significant number ready to put their faith in so-called “virtual restaurants.”
These are among the findings identified in a new report underpinned by a consumer survey spanning 12 major economies released today by AlixPartners.
The survey, conducted in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States, finds that on average over a third (34 percent) of consumers say they expect to dine out more often in the year ahead than in the previous 12 months. That compares with just 19 percent who said they expect to dine out less often.
However, only 28 percent in the survey say they expect to spend more in the year ahead, with a similar number, 26 percent, saying they anticipate spending less. In terms of redirection of that spending, some 40 percent say they plan to allocate that money on travel, with an also significant 37 percent saying they’ll devote it to non-food retail purchases. 
Adam Werner, global co-head of AlixPartners’ Restaurant, Hospitality and Leisure Practice and a managing director at the firm, said: “Restaurant operators need to take aggressive steps to regain both market share and the mind-share being lost to adjacent industries such as travel and retail. To compete globally, they must not only be aware of the consumer nuances across markets but also have sound strategies and concrete tactics in place to capture profitable growth potential where it exists.”
The survey also highlights the continued opportunity delivery affords the industry, revealing a clear bias from consumers towards trusting operator brands over third-party ones in their quest for value-added convenience. On average, 75 percent of survey respondents say chains need to offer more delivery options, with 49 percent saying they prefer to order for delivery directly from restaurants rather than via a third-party service, an option favored by just 12 percent.
Elsewhere on the delivery theme, 40 percent surveyed say they would be happy to order from an establishment that has neither pick-up nor dine-in service: in other words, a virtual restaurant — a concept that represents a true test of an operator’s brand.
Kurt Schnaubelt, a managing director at AlixPartners and member of the firm’s Restaurant, Hospitality and Leisure Practice, said: “The restaurant delivery channel has great potential for operators globally to build share. However, while third-party partnerships might help shape and scale programs, it’s clear they need to be managed closely to make sure the consumer experience is seamless and always feels operator-led.”
Werner added: “The consumer’s openness to virtual restaurants represents both challenge and opportunity for those operators ready and able to innovate. On the one hand, it affords an opportunity to enter new markets to test adoption and concepts without over-investing in upfront build. But, on the other, brand and quality standards will need to be managed extremely tightly to avoid any collateral damage.”
The consumer survey underpins AlixPartners’ new restaurant-industry report Feeding the global consumer – race for share of wallet heats up. The survey was administered online July 13 to August 11, 2017, sampling 8,035 adults age 18 and over. It covered 12 major economies in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.
EatStreet Teams with Facebook
A new partnership between EatStreet and Facebook is designed to make it a lot easier to order food without ever leaving the social media network.
The Facebook feature, unveiled this month, allows people to “Start Order” on a restaurant’s page or a newsfeed post, streamlining the ordering process from within Facebook. EatStreet’s integration into Facebook allows people to access the 15,000-plus restaurants EatStreet currently serves in the U.S.
The partnership is the latest high-profile move for EatStreet, which has continued to grow nationally. Currently, EatStreet serves more than 250 cities. In addition, this year it launched its first national advertising campaign, added delivery services in select cities and overhauled its website and apps to give customers an improved experience.
Kwench Launches National Franchise Effort
Some of the menu items include: fresh juices (which come in raw and simple, specialty, and super types), juice cleansing, fresh fruit smoothies, acai bowls and juice shots. Most items fall under the $12 price point, but franchisees are welcomed to set their own prices. Suggestions can be provided upon request.
“The capital requirements for a Kwench Juice Cafe are approximately $48,000 to $98,000,” says CEO/Founder, Chris Gregoris. “This is based on a variety of factors, such as building improvements, lease deposits, equipment, square footage, and more.”
Kwench Juice Cafe will assist you in securing a location with the use of a nationwide network of brokers. The company provides you with direction on site analysis, including obtaining demographic and traffic information. To ensure that you are successful with building your business footprint, Kwench Juice Cafe must give final approval on all locations – something that is advantageous to both the franchisor and franchisee. Franchisees are asked to have a net worth of $200,000 and liquidity value of $50,000.
The time to open a Kwench Juice Cafe depends on a number of variables, including selecting a desirable location. With their key focus to get you up and running as quickly as possible, this can take anywhere between 30-90 days.
Kwench Juice Franchising, Inc., a Boston based company, has existing units in Boston, Massachusetts, Providence, Rhode Island and additional units slated to open in Phoenix, Arizona, Raleigh, North Carolina, Tampa, Florida, Orlando, Florida, Atlanta, Georgia, Charlotte, North Carolina and Houston, Texas.